Kahone or Kawon is a town and commune near
Kaolack
Kaolack ( ar, كاولاك; wo, Kawlax) is a town of 172,305 people (2002 census) on the north bank of the Saloum River and the N1 road in Senegal. It is the capital of the Kaolack Region, which borders The Gambia to the south. Kaolack is an ...
,
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
. It is primarily agricultural, but it is participating in industrial development plans. Also, the town is pursuing increased tourism based on its ancient
Serer culture.
Kahone is the royal seat of the
Serer Kingdom of
Saloum
The Kingdom of Saloum (Serer language: ''Saluum'' or ''Saalum'') was a Serer people, Serer/Wolof people, Wolof monarchy, kingdom in present-day Senegal. Its kings may have been of Mandinka people, Mandinka/Kaabu origin. The capital of Saloum wa ...
which has ruled there since the 15th century after the
Gelwar's defeat in c. 1335, and centuries previous to that. Kahone was originally a far more important town than
Kaolack
Kaolack ( ar, كاولاك; wo, Kawlax) is a town of 172,305 people (2002 census) on the north bank of the Saloum River and the N1 road in Senegal. It is the capital of the Kaolack Region, which borders The Gambia to the south. Kaolack is an ...
, but the roles have been reversed in recent years, and Kahone has been reduced to a sub-prefecture of Kaolack. An annual royal festival is celebrated in which the
O Maad (Serer king), Djaraaf (Serer prime minister) and other dignitaries meet to decide kingdom issues and hold pageants celebrating the history of Saloum and the
Serer people
The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group. .
There is a
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
thanks to the
Wolof
Wolof or Wollof may refer to:
* Wolof people, an ethnic group found in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania
* Wolof language, a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania
* The Wolof or Jolof Empire, a medieval West African successor of the Mal ...
and
Fula
Fula may refer to:
*Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe)
*Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani)
**The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language
**The Fula variety known as the Pular language
**The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde
*Al-Fula
...
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
settlers and a
Catholic missions
Missionary work of the Catholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically defined parishes and dioceses by religious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, p ...
in Kahone. There are numerous ancient tombs, stone circles and megaliths in the vicinity as well as large burial mounds implanted with
baobab
''Adansonia'' is a genus made up of eight species of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). They are placed in the Malvaceae family, subfamily Bombacoideae. They are native to Madagascar, mainland Africa, and Australia.Tropic ...
trees.
Kahone is routinely involved in many administrative territorial disputes with neighboring communes, always emphasizing its earlier importance.
In 2007, according to official estimates, Kahone had 5,852 inhabitants.
Sources
*
Henry Gravrand
Father Henry Gravrand (France, 1921 - Abbey of Latrun, Palestine, 11 July 2003) was a French Catholic missionary to Africa and an anthropologist who has written extensively on Serer religion and culture. He was one of the leading pioneers of inte ...
, ''La civilisation sereer'', I. Coosan, Dakar, Nouvelles Editions Africaines (1983). In French.
*
Martin A. Klein
Martin A. Klein (born 1934 in suburban New York City) is an African studies, Africanist and an emeritus professor in the History Department at the University of Toronto specialising in the Atlantic slave trade, and francophone West Africa: Senegal, ...
, ''Islam and Imperialism in Senegal Sine-Saloum, 1847–1914'', Edinburgh At the University Press (1968)
* Alioune Sarr, ''Histoire du Sine-Saloum. Introduction, bibliographie et Notes par Charles Becker'', BIFAN, Tome 46, Serie B, n° 3–4, 1986-1987. In French.
See also
*
Kingdom of Saloum
The Kingdom of Saloum (Serer language: ''Saluum'' or ''Saalum'') was a Serer/Wolof kingdom in present-day Senegal. Its kings may have been of Mandinka/ Kaabu origin. The capital of Saloum was the city of Kahone. It was a sister kingdom of Sin ...
*
Kingdom of Sine
The Kingdom of Sine (also: ''Sin, Siine'' or Siin in the Serer-Sine language) was a post-classical Serer kingdom along the north bank of the Saloum River delta in modern Senegal. The inhabitants are called ''Siin-Siin'' or ''Sine-Sine'' (a Se ...
*
Serer people
The Serer people are a West African ethnoreligious group.
Populated places in Kaolack Region
Kaolack Region
Communes of Senegal
{{Senegal-geo-stub